We are Home!

Val Dean got home from Primary Children's hospital on Sunday. Each day he is getting better and better. Although the nights are long; The kids seem to wake each other up all night long. Today he was the happiest he's been in a while. The pain has made him so moody. He is getting a custom made neck brace next week, which will be so nice because his current neck brace is too big and cuts into his shoulders. He also gets his stitches out on Monday.

My parents gave Val Dean these balloons when he got home. He liked them so much he insisted holding them while he watched a movie. He even held them while he slept that night.

Primary Children's has a playroom that Val Dean was able to play in the day before we left. He was so sick of his hospital bed, it was like Disneyland. At first he could not walk at all, he looked a little tipsy for awhile.

Little Viv has been such a great baby. She is so low maintenance. She just smiles every time you look at her. We are so blessed to have her!

The long and bumpy road

Yesterday was Val Dean's hardest day yet. He was SO irritable. It's hard to see our little guy so upset and discontent. The pain and meds make his pretty angry. He couldn't sleep or calm himself at all yesterday. Needless to say it was pretty exhausting for the both of us. Val had to go back to work, which I was not prepared for.

His x-rays show that the surgery was a great success. So now we just have to deal with the after math. They had to take him off of morphine because his stomach was shutting down, so he is in more pain now. The loratab just doesn't seem to touch the pain like the morphine. He is also having difficulties keeping his oxygen up, so he has to be on oxygen all the time.

He hates all the cords and IV's connected to him. He is constantly ripping the oxygen, neck brace, and monitor leads off. And yesterday he ripped the IV out of his foot.
He seems a little better this morning. He slept really good last night and is napping now. YEAH! Originally, we thought we could leave today or tomorrow, but that does not seem like it's going to happen.
On a positive note.... We are staying at my aunts condo arcross from the conference center and this is the view out my window. It's even better at night!

Again thanks to all your for your love, prayers, and support

Surgery Update

Val Dean was so funny in the pre-op room. They gave him some drugs to calm him before they put him under and it made him so loopy. He was giggling and saying the funniest things. He kept kissing Val and then started licking his face and saying he wanted to taste daddy. Then he wanted Val and I to kiss him all together "a family kiss". His kisses would last about 20 seconds. It was so funny!

This is Val Dean on "drugs"SO SAD!! I just died when I first saw him. It was so hard to see him so helpless.

The doctor said when he started he was a little nervous because his neck instability and abnormalities were much worse then he expected. In the end, after a little over 3 hours surgery the doctor said he was amazed at how well it turned out.

The surgery placed a horseshoe shaped metal plate down the back of the neck. The top part was screwed into the back of the skull and the two side pieces screwed into his c-3. Because his c-1 and c-2 vertebra's were so deformed they had to take two 2 inch pieces from his ribs to build up the vertebrae. So it was like two surgeries in one.

He was in a substantial amount of pain after the surgery. He just seemed like he could not get comfortable. I hope that tomorrow will be a little better. Thank you to all our friends and family for all your prayers and support. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

Val Dean's surgery!!!!

FINALLY!!! Val Dean's neck surgery is finally here. After months of wait, the doctor has dicided Val Dean's neck is too unstable to go any longer with out neck surgery. I have been so nervious, but am so glad the day is finally here.

We had to start the process Sunday night with some blood work. Val Dean said he wanted to get in the trunk with his luggage.

The start of our journey Sunday night. It was difficult start. They had to poke him a couple of times. It was pretty traumatic.

Monday morning Val Dean said he was ready for surgery. He had a great attitude all week, which was really surprising. He said in his prayers every night "bless Val Dean's surgery can fix Val Dean's neck".

His surgery got postponed for a couple of hours which I thought was going to be disastrous because he had eaten since 8pm the night before. However he was so pleasant, he loved the waiting room toys.
He had great support with both grandmas there to spoil him!

One project accomplished a hundred to go

Although it's been 6 months since we moved into our new house, I still have a hundred and one unfinished projects, and decorating has defiantly not been on the top of my list. However at last I have finished making my curtains. I have been working on them here and there for over two months. It took me forever to decide on the fabric and style. The style that I picked in called back tab. They are kind of a mix between rod pocket and grommet. They are a fairly new concept so there was really no pattern for them and I had to figure it out on my own. I am so excited that they are finally done. Next step....hang something on the wall.

Easter

For Easter this year we went to Rexburg. We shared the day with Val's family and my grandparents. It was so fun to have so much family around. The kids always love being adored by new faces.

On Saturday we had an Easter egg hunt at my grandparents. Val Dean thought hunting for Easter eggs was just about as fun as trick-or-treating on Halloween.

Luckily they had a limit on how many eggs the older kids could find.

Val Dean defiantly took his time,

Daddy fit in a little time before golf to help Val Dean find eggs. As you can tell he did not want to stop for pictures during the Easter egg hunt.

We spent Easter morning at Val's parents. They have a cute tradition of hiding the Easter baskets. Val Dean thought it was fun searching for his basket.

Val Dean was pumped to get MORE Cars the movie characters

Viv was content with her $1.00 bunny!

Val Dean showing mommy his gratitude for the Easter gift.

We had a big Easter dinner with my grandparents and all my cousins. Here are some cute snapshots of the rest of the day.

Val Dean knows he is small, but I think he believes he is much smaller than reality. He is always trying to fit in or on small toys.
I have been waiting almost two years for Val Dean to fit in this suit. I was beginning to think I might have to wait until his wedding day. But at last he fits in the 6-9 month suit.

This kiddo's looked so cute I had to have a family photo. Vivien and I had matching dresses and sweaters for Easter.

Having a girl is more fun than I ever could have imagined.

Me and my beautiful sisters.